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Pop: Finger on the pulse

The first indie label, Stiff Records changed the music biz for good, says Tim Cooper

Stiff Records was the first “indie” label, long before anyone had coined the term. It put out the first British punk single. It introduced us to the Damned, Ian Dury, Elvis Costello and Madness — as well as oddballs like Lene Lovich and Wreckless Eric. Most of all, it was the label that put the fun back into pop music, with picture discs, publicity stunts, rude T-shirts and wacky slogans: “If it ain’t Stiff, it ain’t worth a f***.”

As famous for its zany marketing campaigns as its records, it pioneered the DIY spirit of punk and put it into practice. And, living up to the rock’n’roll ethos of “live fast, die young”, Stiff shone brightly for a decade, releasing 250 singles and 60 albums, before collapsing under a pile of debt to leave a bruised, battered but beautiful corpse — a stiff.